Margarete van den Brink

”Ihmisestä on tultava kanssaihmisilleen tärkeämpi kuin mitä hän aiemmin on ollut. Hänestä pitäisi tulla toisille herättäjä.” – Rudolf Steiner. Kirjassa syvennytään niihin muutoksen mahdollisuuksiin, joita keskustelu voi avata ihmisten kohdatessa kasvokkain. Tekijä korostaa, että kyetäkseen luomaan todellisia yhteyksiä toisiin, ihmisen on työskenneltävä tietoisesti myös itsensä kanssa. Keskustelun vapauttava voima syntyy, kun kokemuksia läpikäydään yhdessä kaikilla sielun tasoilla, oivalletaan niiden merkityksiä ja opitaan niistä. Tällainen tarkastelu vahvistaa ja vapauttaa ihmistä auttaen häntä saamaan kosketuksen korkeimpaan olemuspuoleensa, meidän aikanamme heräävään henki-itseen. Hollantilainen Margareta van den Brink on työskennellyt yksilö- ja ryhmäohjaajana sekä vuorovaikutustaitojen ja johtamisen kouluttajana Euroopassa. Etsittyään ohjaustyönsä perustaksi henkistä virikettä, jonka näkemyksiä olisi mahdollista viedä käytäntöön, hän päätyi antroposofiaan.

Relationships are built through dialogue - through exploring heartfelt questions that lead to liberating personal insights. This book shows how such dialogue can transform relationships and build community. However, true meeting and healing conversations take effort. Encounter involves light and dark. Relationships bring out sympathy and antipathy. In an age of digital communications and internet-based encounters - when alienation and loneliness are very real issues - this new edition of Margarete van den Brink's classic work is more vital than ever. The process of inner development - leading ultimately to the unification of the human self with its higher, spiritual being - involves a transformation in our everyday selves. In this act of initiation, the art of conversation plays a central role. The words which people speak to each other contain a force that can work in an invigorating and life-enhancing way. This force - which can be more precious than light itself - is the highest creative principle, the Word referred to in the Gospel of St John, which created everything that exists. Informed by the insights of anthroposophy, More Precious than Light indicates the path towards the spirit and the lost power of the Word, transforming relationships and building community. True encounter can only be fostered through building real connections with our fellow human beings.

Is there truly life beyond death? What really happens when we die? Can the living stay connected with, or even help, their loved ones who have passed on? Answers to these questions have traditionally been sought for in Eastern religions but - perhaps surprisingly for some - they can also be found within the Christian tradition. In fact, such knowledge was prevalent in early Christianity, but was gradually suppressed and eventually forgotten. Turning to hidden - esoteric - sources that reveal lost meanings within the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Gnostic texts, Hans Stolp and Margarete van den Brink describe the world of light that exists beyond death, and the 'seven steps' needed to progress through its realms. The authors draw on near-death experiences as well as the many profound personal encounters with deceased friends and family members described by people in recent times. With this knowledge, together with Rudolf Steiner's research, they offer answers to the following questions: - What is the world beyond death really like and what tasks await us there? - Why is love and wisdom gained in life on earth so important in the afterlife? - How can the living help or hinder the dead? - How do the departed themselves help loved ones who are left behind? - How does the Christ sustain the dead as they review their previous life and prepare for the next? This is an extraordinary guide to understanding what happens after death. It also offers invaluable advice on staying connected to our loved ones who have passed on.